phfadminIslamabad, 8th December 2021– Pakistan Humanitarian Forum (PHF) organized a media roundtable discussion and launched the COVID-19 snapshot which highlighted contributions of INGOs to combat pandemic in Pakistan.
The ceremony was participated by eminent journalists from all the mainstream news channels and by the government dignitaries along with representatives of INGOs, UN and donor agencies. During the media roundtable discussion, the journalists were briefed about existing challenges/gaps and opportunities of the humanitarian and development sector of Pakistan by Mr. Syed Shahid Kazmi, Country Coordinator, Pakistan Humanitarian Forum.
The journalists were informed about the future engagement with the Pakistan Humanitarian Forum to generate the discourse on humanitarian and development needs in the country and to keep them abreast with ongoing program interventions of PHF member organizations to uplift the state of marginalized and underserved populations in Pakistan.
While sharing the contribution of PHF member organizations during the pandemic, PHF Mr. Shahid Kazmi told participants that during the pandemic a total of 9.7 billion PKR were mobilized by PHF member organizations from various donor agencies for multi-sectoral COVID-19 response and reached out to 11.1 million people across the country. In addition, PHF member organizations distributed 1.83 billion cash grants through the Government of Pakistan’s Ehsaas program to 1.11 million beneficiaries during a pandemic.
He further explained, PHF member organizations contributed to all sectors during the time of the pandemic and supported the government of Pakistan by engaging the sector partners in the provision of essential services to communities. Almost 2.9 million beneficiaries received ration packs, 12,276 beneficiaries received sexual and reproductive health services, 469,839 beneficiaries received psychosocial support and 52,248 people received different skill development training. A total of 612,652 water and sanitation items were distributed in communities and government health facilities during the pandemic through the PHF member organization.
PHF member organizations played a very effective role to support the government to combat with pandemics. In the future, PHF member organization comes up with out of box solutions and initiatives to uplift the state of marginalized and underserved populations in the country. Together we can take tangible moves and achieve and meet the targets of global and national commitments, said, Lt. Gen. Omar Mahmood Hayat, Chairman Board of Trustees, Pakistan Humanitarian Forum.
COVID-19 was the biggest challenge for the entire world, as well as for Pakistan. Pakistan was the first country that took several measures to combat the novel virus and to educate masses at large for following the Government SOPs to contain the spread of the virus at different levels said, Dr. Faisal Sultan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health.
He further added, despite all challenges, the country abates the risk of catastrophic spread of virus with the support of all key stakeholders including international and national organizations, UN, donor agencies, humanitarian and development institutions. I highly congratulate PHF on the launching ceremony of the COVID-19 snapshot. We do look forward to the role of INGOs in collaborating and supporting the government in the post-COVID scenario and addressing the humanitarians and developments unmet needs across the country. During the roundtable, the journalists also suggested organizing more sensitization sessions/ training pertaining to humanitarian and development challenges in Pakistan and also informing the journalists about the innovative ways of storytelling so they can better report and inform the masses in a very engaging and effective way.
